The Arizona sentinel., 1887-02-26
PHYSIOGNOMY.
Considered as a Detective of
 Character.
Examples Showing How It Is Indicated in the Mouth, Nose, Eyes and Ears-The Best Readers
 of Faces.

or tacess
 Fra Hippo Lippi, beloved of Brown ing's verse, when friendless ragamufin, un birtone, scanning keenly the faces of the procession to see who would compassionately let fall few drops of his taper's wax for the hungry urchin to sell again, was taking lessons in a study as useful to mankind as it is neglected. We are all born with a smattering of it, our A B c of the uni versal language coming by nature, but most of us expect the entire read ing, like Dogberry's, to come so, too. It belongs to a few rare persons, like second sight or diviniation-it is divination, of sort that made sybils famous, and taught the weird women their Hale, Thane of Cawdor," at sight of the scheming, relentless face of Macbeth. It helongs superlatively to intellectual and magnetic women, to slaves, dogs and friendless creatures, whose wits are kept keen by circum- stances, and whose safety lies in being quick to read this kind of Indian sign.
 ''It is defense, but not an enviable One," said woman having the gift in an uncommon degree. '1 wouldn't be a seer or mind-reader for any thing you could offer. It's bad enough to see the character in ones face when you want to like somes new acquaint- ance undeservedly, who seems per fectly charming, and you want to be charmed, yet something tells you it won't do. Am I never deceived? Frankly, never but once in my life. I never meet an undesirable acquaint- ance, no matter how well introduced, without a distinct impression that the person would bring trouble to me. I've learned to be very careful to respect the first instant's reading of new face. The first sight conveys its real meaning to one who can read it. Man ners and different expressions may tempt one to modify or recant the first opinion, but have never done so without lifelong regret. I knew very sensitive girl who had this in- stinct, whose friendship was sought by a literary man, man of good family and a favorite in society, not a bad fellow by any means. Her first i'm pression, as she said, on meeting him, was that he was a puppy, an impress sion quickly effaced by his consumate manners and taste. They became strong friends, the woman helping him in a very delicate, serviceable way, taking his work for him without pay, assisting him from her slender income, out of frank, blameless regard; girl far too ignorant to know how fatally such kindness can be misconstrued. In his contemptible vanity the man was pleased to let the impression get about that she was his light O love; in fact, did some things to complete the idea which will never be out of some mems heads till they die. Rather hard re- turn for the unselfish interest of motherless girl.
 So well marked are the signs of character in face and person that they have been reduced to system. The science is by no means new one. Aristotle, Pliny and Galen wrote upon it; Avicenna, Michael Scott and Baptist Porta, to whom we owe the camera ob- scura; Blumenbach, Spurzheim, the eminent Bichat and Broussals, Sir Charles Bell, James w. Redfeld. Lav- ater, the highly revered Swiss clergy man, in 1901 collected the observations and illustrations which put physi- Ognomy on a footing of repute. And Dr. J. Simms, of New York, made a complete systematic study, called Natures Revelations of Character, " useful to those who would follow it as science. The position of the most emi- nent scientists now goes far beyond the faint indices of phrenology, for men like Herbert Spencer, Dr. Mandesley and Dr. Lindsay hold that the brain is not the only organ of the mind, but the muscles and the nervous ganglia assist and express its workings. By this theory, physiognomy read the whole physical form.
 ''As the dial to the clock" says a writer on the subject, ''so is the human face to man; on it are written not only his mental powers, his moral strength or weakness, but his physical capacities and predispositions to health or disease, and there is no one of ordi-